USA Plays Germany in Women's World Cup Semifinals Tomorrow

Tomorrow (Tuesday) will see what I call the "World War II" semifinals in the FIFA Women's World Cup of soccer.  Why? Simply because of the pairings: England plays Japan and Germany plays the United States.  So, depending on the outcomes of these two matches we'll either have an Axis final (Germany-Japan), an Allies final (England-USA)...or a continuation of the war...

The so-called experts in soccer have Germany ranked #1 and the United States at #2, so it's a little disappointing that there won't be a chance of them facing each other in the final.  Still, should defending World Cup Champion Japan win against England, the final should be very entertaining regardless who wins between Germany and the US.  The Japanese impressed me greatly during their last game against Australia with their aggressive play, team coordination, and skill with the ball...

Two important scorers on the American team missed the previous contest against China due to yellow card (foul) accumulation in the previous round against Colombia, but they'll be back to face Germany.  Germany may well win tomorrow's game, but I believe their "favorites" status is largely due to them running up the score to 10-0 in their group stage match against relatively weak Ivory Coast.  I think the Americans will prevail in the end, but then again I'm not going to be out there on the field determining the result...

One striking difference between women's and men's national soccer teams is that the players on the women's teams tend to be amateurs and the men professionals.  This is because the professional league system for men has been around much longer and women's pro soccer leagues are simply not yet bringing in the fan and media attention that would sustain a level of income appropriate to a professional career for the players.  I bet most of my readers...even many soccer fans...don't know that the U.S. has its own women's league: the National Women's Soccer League, with nine teams and which plays its regular season concurrently with the men's Major League Soccer.  I understand that many of the games, although not on regular television, can be viewed on YouTube...

Largely because girl's soccer in America is often promoted in high school athletics as a counterpart to boy's football, on an international level women's soccer in the United States, with its large pool of developing talent, has grown to a higher level of respect than has the men's sport.  It would be a shame if the most talented of these athletes were continued to be denied the opportunity to make a decent living from their sport when male soccer players of much lesser stature in their own respective leagues can support themselves with their higher pay...

Tomorrow's games will be shown on FoxSports1 Channel, which in Gainesville is on Cox Cable Channel 62.  Unfortunately, I'll be at work during the games and won't be able to watch them...